The First Facility Management Blog

The German office furniture industry maintained its growth course in the first quarter of 2008. The manufacturers, who are members of the BSO (Association of Office, Seating and Object Furniture/Verband Büro-, Sitz- und Objektmöbel), increased their turnover in the months January to March 2008 by 10.2% compared to the same period the previous year.

Commenting on this positive development, BSO Chairman Hendrik Hund, pointed out: “The investment restraint of previous years has led to strong backlog demand at many companies. We are now benefiting from this. For some time now, the quality of office furnishings and furniture has increasingly become the focus of customers’ attention. In particular, high ergonomic value furniture in high quality, attractive design is enjoying strong demand.”

In the past two years, the manufacturers of office furniture were already clearly able to increase their turnover. In 2007, the BSO members reported sales growth of 14.7%. This led to a rise in the office furniture production volume to 2.12 (1.85) billion Euro.

In 2007 the office furniture manufacturers benefited from the increased interest in connection with both the domestic market as well as exports. In contrast, foreign suppliers did not contribute to the growth of the domestic market.

While the BSO members in Germany reached sales growth of 14.5% (according to figures released by the Federal Statistical Office), imports were in decline. Imports of wooden and steel framed furniture fell by 2.6% compared to the previous year, while imports of swivel chairs declined by 0.2%.

The most important export markets for German office furniture were the other neighboring countries of Holland, France, Switzerland, and Austria. In terms of exports beyond the borders of the European Union, business and trade particularly with Russia and the Gulf states developed at a positive level.

According to observations by the BSO, in both regions the high quality associated with “Made in Germany” continues to apply as a powerful sales argument. In the area of office chairs, the export quota of total turnover achieved by the BSO member companies in 2007 was 41.7%. Nevertheless, 23.1% of framed furniture, which is more difficult to transport due to its bulky volume, was exported abroad.

The productivity factors for the German office furniture manufacturers also developed at positive rates last year. In this connection, the BSO member companies increased sales per employee by 9.0% and sales per rendered working hour improved by 8.4%. In 2007, for the first time in many years, additional staff and employees were taken on once again. Compared to the previous year, the number of employees increased by 4.9% to around 12,600.

Due to the turbulence on the financial markets and slight decline in worldwide economic activity, the BSO expects lower growth compared to last year. Currently the association assumes an average growth rate of 4% to 6%.

As Chairman Hund also explained, the trend in raw materials prices is a cause of concern for the German office furniture producers. In order to compensate for the rising costs of metals, wood, and plastics, which in some cases have reached double figure percentage increases, as well as the increases in energy and logistics costs, the beginning of the year already saw office furniture prices rise by an average of 5%.

According to the BSO, the fact that the prices have not increased further is in particular due to the increased efficiency of company procedures and processes. Further increases in material costs will however necessitate a renewed price adjustment by the end of the current year at the latest.

Companies are offering employees a wider range of amenities than in years past, according to results from a recent International Facility Management Association study. When compared to similar data from 2004,the most common amenities are still break rooms and coffee bars, but employers are increasingly providing Internetcafés , outdoor recreation areas, and employee health facilities as well, according to the report,”Benchmarks V: Annual Facility Costs.”

While previous IFMA studies have shown employee workspace size decreasing—middle manager office space, for example, has shrunk from an average of 151 square feet in 1994 to 121 in 2007, a decline of nearly 20%—the variety of amenities being offered is on the rise. This increase in employee amenity options could be attributed to companies wanting to attract and retain the best employees while compensating for reduced workspace size.

“As companies reduce personal workspace, employees place greater importance on in-house amenities that simplify and enrich their work day, such as lunch-hour yoga at the company fitness center,” said AngieEarlywine, workplace strategist for HOK Advance Strategies. “Employees benefit from feeling refreshed and relaxed as they return to the remainder of their day, and employers benefit from the increase in afternoon productivity.”

Headquarter and educational facilities are the most likely to offer the majority of
employee amenities, according to the report, and while some amenities are being offered by fewer companies than in 2004, the emergence of new alternatives is pronounced. Multi-purpose space, for example, has become a popular feature, being offered by 35% of survey respondents. Other popular amenity options found by the new study include exercise parks, cot rooms, and nursing/lactation areas.

Based on a survey of 1,032 facility professionals from across North America, the
new report covers a variety of costs associated with employee amenities. The costs are broken down by industry, facility type, and geographic region. Companies on the West Coast, for example, annually spend an average of 30 cents per square foot to operate and maintain amenities, while those in the Midwest spend only 4 cents.

IFMA annually conducts a benchmarking survey of its members in an effort to
collect data that allows for easy comparisons of built environment costs and practices. These reports allow facility professionals to gauge their performance against similar facilities—whether in the same industry or a different one. This year’s report includes data from more than 1,000 facilities and isIFMA’s largest benchmarking study to date, with many survey respondents supplying information from multiple facilities.

To learn more about the “Benchmarks V: Annual Facility Costs” survey results and methodology, or to order a copy of the report, visit www.ifma.org/tools/research/benchmarks_v.cfm.

What amenities have you added to your facility in the recent year? What are employees looking for when it comes to amenities? Post a comment below and share your thoughts with other facility managers.

Most of the time, it takes the trained eye of a professional inspector to identify defects or potential hazards within a facility. On some occasions, however, certain maintenance issues are easy to spot. And in private residences, where untrained homeowners act as D-I-Y facility managers, well, the results can sometimes be catastrophes waiting to happen.

Each year, the American Society of Home Inspectors (ASHI) releases unusual home inspection discoveries from the field. The photos below were submitted by ASHI Certified Inspectors and published in ASHI’s publication, the ASHI Reporter. Photos appear monthly in ASHI’s “Postcards from the Field” section.

“Some of the most unusual discoveries I’ve made as a home inspector have happened while I was inspecting dark crawl spaces, attics, and roofs,” said Brion Grant, 2008 ASHI president. “From time to time, though, I spot some pretty unusual and potentially dangerous issues simply by walking into a room.”

Monumentally Bad Planning
Electrical outlets come in all shapes and sizes, but even John Fryer, an ASHI Certified Inspector from Oakland, CA, was stumped by this unique contraption. While Silicone Valley (the site of this finding) is lauded as a premier location for creative minds and innovation, this improvised design is more dangerous than ingenious.

ASHI’s founder, Ron Passaro of Bethel, CT, advised the owner of this home to take caution when walking out this door. Watch out, that first step can be a little tricky.

Fun With Water
Each year, ASHI emphasizes the importance of winterizing outdoor faucets as part of an ongoing winter maintenance regimen. While inspecting this home in Hopedale, MA, however, ASHI Certified Inspector Ron Cook concluded that this homeowner did not heed the Society’s advice.

The owner of this home in Bartlett, TN, does not appear to believe in the expression “all things in moderation.” There are six hoses connected to the faucet shown here. ASHI Certified Inspector Brandon Dyles said the homeowner was hoping it would pass as a “sprinkler system.”

KA-BOOM!
The junction box shown here is the “Grand Central Station” of junction boxes with more wires coming and going than ASHI Certified Inspector Garet Denise of Littleton, CO, cared to count. Surprisingly, this is the work of a licensed contractor and was approved by the local municipal inspector.

Oops. A licensed contractor. Reminds me of my first house, which was owned by a former engineer from a company I will mention by initials only: G.E. The kitchen was wired in such a way that the dishwasher would only run when you turned on the wall oven. Needless to say, this gentleman’s friendship with the inspector was the only reason he was able to get the Certificate of Occupancy required in order to sell the house. His engineering prowess was certainly dubious, at best.

Have you seen anything like this during your tenure in the facility management profession? Send your photos to us!

Greenpeace co-founder and former leader Dr. Patrick Moore recently spoke out against attempts by activist environmental groups to politicize the green building agenda.

Addressing members of the National Association of Home Builders at their recent National Green Building Conference in New Orleans, Moore said, “Greenpeace is using the US Green Building Council’s LEED green building standard as a Trojan horse to deliver an activist agenda that is not in line with science or sustainability.”

“Ironically, many of the positions that Greenpeace and other activist organizations advocate run contrary to a sound green building approach and will likely do more harm than good,” said Moore, Chair and Chief Scientist at consulting firm Greenspirit Strategies Ltd.

“Greenpeace is opposed to the use of hydro power, nuclear energy, widely accepted sustainable forestry standards, and vinyl products, to name but a few of the things they are opposed to,” said Moore.

“How ironic since nuclear and hydro are among the most sustainable of energy sources while wood and vinyl are among the most sustainable of building materials,” said Moore.

“These unscientific biases, fostered by activist groups, have found their way into the LEED standard,” said Moore.

“Healthcare is an important field where vinyl materials perform well because of their low cost and anti-bacterial qualities,” said Moore.

“In my opinion, banning vinyl from healthcare—as some activist organizations would have us do in the new LEED for healthcare standard—runs contrary to everything I know about sustainability,” said Moore.

“A ban on affordable vinyl products might increase healthcare costs at a time when we can least afford it,” said Moore. “Such a ban might also have negative implications on hospital hygiene,” Moore said.

“We need to be practical and realistic,” said Moore.

“There are over six billion people on this planet, all of whom need food, energy, shelter, and materials,” said Moore.

“By initiating campaigns against nuclear and hydro power, wood, and vinyl, the Greenpeace agenda would have us deny people basic needs, and that runs completely contrary to true sustainability,” said Moore.

“One way to ensure LEED and other green building standards are not unduly influenced by the activist political agenda is to encourage rigorous competition among the various standards,” said Moore.

“No green building standard should have a monopoly on the market,” said Moore.

“Competition is important to ensuring high quality green building standards that are based on sound science and focused on sustainability,” said Moore.

The company has introduced its redesigned site to offer more information on bird control issues. While retaining all of the information from the previous site, the updated site (www.bird-x.com) contains an array of relevant information pertaining to specific bird problems and solutions. It is designed to serve as a complete authoritative resource on bird and animal control with educational and practical information, along with links to articles and customer testimonials.

“We wanted to create a Web site that functions as more than just an online store,” says Mona Zemsky, marketing manager for Bird-X, Inc. “For example, if a corporate complex has a problem with territorial Canada geese destroying the grounds, we want them to know how to solve it, of course, but also why that solution is going to be successful in the long-term.”

The Web site encompasses information learned after four decades of working with scientists, biologists, humane and Audubon societies, animal rights groups, environmental groups, concerned citizens, and global leaders of industry. Secondly, it highlights the real world experiences of the organizations who have suffered the financial, aesthetic and health effects of birds and their droppings.

About Bird-X, Inc.
Founded in 1963, Bird-X, Inc. is known for producing the world’s most humane bird and animal pest control products. With new laser, ultrasonic, sonic, and visual repellents, the Bird-X tradition of innovation, high quality, and premium materials continues to endure. The company is located in Chicago, IL.

With the new site, The Ashkin Group LLC is striving to illustrate how green cleaning can be beneficial in a wide variety of industries, including healthcare and education. The site, launched in April 2008, is a project spearheaded by Ashkin technology director Eric Hauck.

“It has a lot more functionality for users,” explains Hauck. “We wanted to present green cleaning in a much more easy to understand format.”

President of The Ashkin Group, LLC., Stephen Ashkin, has been a leader in the effort to green the cleaning and maintenance industry for more than 15 years. He is a writer, speaker, and advocate for safer and healthier cleaning methods.

Among the materials available on the site is a list of frequently asked questions (FAQs) about green cleaning. “We included the FAQ section because we wanted [the Web site] to be designed for those just now being introduced to green cleaning as well as those who are pros,” says Ashkin. “This is our second Web site and with each one we try to get more inclusive, more helpful, and more informative.”

The site is located at www.ashkingroup.com/homenew.html

About Stephen Ashkin and The Ashkin Group
Stephen P. Ashkin is president of The Ashkin Group, a consulting firm specializing in Greening the Cleaning process and executive director of the Green Cleaning Network, both based in Bloomington, IN.

AeA, a trade association representing all segments of the high-tech industry, has released the 23rd edition of its ongoing Competitiveness Series. The report analyzes the strong economic relationship between the U.S. and China in terms of high-tech trade and foreign direct investment.

“China’s economic rise poses not a threat but a host of opportunities and challenges to the rest of the world,” said Rob Mulligan, AeA’s Senior Vice President International. “Public policy in both the U.S. and China must recognize the interdependent nature of our economies and avoid protectionism and distorting trade practices. Such policies restrain trade, damage economies, and raise prices for consumers.”

U.S. high-tech goods exports to China more than doubled between 2001 and 2007. This makes China the third fastest growing (and the third largest destination) for U.S. high-tech exports. Only the United States’ two NAFTA partners, Canada and Mexico, are larger export destinations for American tech products than China. Between 2001 and 2007, U.S. high-tech goods imports from China rose from $26 billion to $112 billion.

Total U.S. direct investment in China was $22.2 billion in 2006, a 30% increase over 2005. In 2006, U.S. technology investments in China totaled $1.9 billion, a 69% rise over 2005.

“As China seeks to become a global leader in technological innovation,” continued Mulligan, “it will need to move away from policies promoting discriminatory local standards, domestic government procurement preferences, and protectionist competition laws.”

The report outlines a series of public policy recommendations for dealing with China as a rising economic power.

More than 230 industry experts representing 135 companies with the world’s most business-critical networks discussed server virtualization, energy efficiency, cooling strategies, and high-density power distribution during the two-day Data Center Users’ Group® (DCUG) spring conference earlier this month in Tampa, FL.

The DCUG is a group of influential data center, IT, and facility managers formed by Emerson Network Power, a business of Emerson. The group provides a collaborative, focused environment where those closest to the data center can address the issues, trends, challenges, and solutions associated with building a highly available, flexible, and cost-effective facility.

The spring conference focused on analyzing emerging technologies and best practices for data centers, 2010 and beyond, and featured a series of discussions with experts from different focus areas, including presentations on these subjects: The impact of virtualization on the data center; next-generation cooling–supplemental, embedded, and chip level; alternative UPS and distribution configurations; building an energy-efficient data center; and data center monitoring and measurement

“The evolving data center demands new technologies and strategies, and a forum such as this—that includes industry thought leaders and experts sharing experiences and ideas—is an invaluable resource as we tackle these challenges,” said Bob Miller, vice president, marquee accounts, Emerson Network Power’s Liebert business and a member of the Data Center Users’ Group board of directors. “As an industry, we must adapt to take advantage of the opportunities presented by issues such as increasing heat densities, demands for high-density power distribution, and the growing need for effective energy efficiency strategies.”

The DCUG members in attendance at the conference reviewed results from the group’s recent industry survey that indicates an overwhelming majority of data center operators are seeing rising power densities in their racks and expect the trend to continue.

Thirty-two percent of survey respondents reported an average of more than eight kilowatts (kW) per rack in their facilities, up from 25% at that level in 2006. Looking ahead, 57% said their rack power density would exceed that level by 2010.
“The significance,” said Miller, “is that once you get above eight kW it really points out the need for next-generation high-density cooling strategies.”

Respondents also demonstrated significantly more interest in monitoring and energy efficiency. In spring 2005, 18% said monitoring was important. That number jumped to 43% in this survey. The increased emphasis on energy efficiency is even more dramatic. In spring 2005, zero percent said it was important. Now 40% say energy efficiency is important.

More than 150 DCUG member companies and non-member Fortune 500 companies participated in the survey, which covered a variety of data center topics, including power management, precision cooling, server virtualization, and server consolidation.

Founded in 2003, the DCUG includes approximately 1,500 members; the group meets semi-annually to collaboratively discuss the most relevant issues affecting the reliability, availability, and cost of operation for mission-critical installations. The group’s membership comprises executives with a wide variety of IT and facilities management expertise from an assortment of companies, including board member companies Vanguard, Cincinnati Bell Technology Solutions, and JPMorgan Chase, among others

Today’s Weird Wednesday story comes straight from the “you can’t make this stuff up” file. For facility professionals outside of the Houston, TX area, this story is odd, but amusing. For fms in the largest city in Texas, it’s “A Bug’s Life” with a nightmarish twist, and the siege shows few signs of ending anytime soon.

The story is about ants…crazy rasberry ants. What makes them doubly nightmarish (especially for fms) is their appetite for electronics (computers, motors, wiring) and their tenacity (it’s nearly impossible to kill them because of their extreme numbers and the cost of the treatment).

First spotted about six years ago, paratrenicha species near pubens (their formal name) may have arrived in Houston by way of cargo ships from South America or the Caribbean. Their numbers have gone from the thousands to the millions in the meantime, and their infestations have spread to five surrounding counties. Moving at the rate of a half a mile a year, the ants (named after Tom Rasberry, the first Texas exterminator to do battle with them) do bite, but they don’t sting.

Linda Stewart Ball of the Associated Press reports:

Exterminators say calls from frustrated homeowners and businesses are increasing because the ants — which are starting to emerge by the billions with the onset of the warm, humid season — appear to be resistant to over-the-counter ant killers.

And when you do kill these ants, the survivors turn it to their advantage: They pile up the dead, sometimes using them as a bridge to cross safely over surfaces treated with pesticide.

“At this point, it would be nearly impossible to eradicate the ant because it is so widely dispersed,” said Roger Gold, a Texas A&M University entomologist.

The good news? They eat fire ants, the stinging red terrors of Texas summers.

But the ants also like to suck the sweet juices from plants, feed on such beneficial insects as ladybugs, and eat the hatchlings of a small, endangered type of grouse known as the Attwater prairie chicken.

Worse, they, like some other species of ants, are attracted to electrical equipment, for reasons that are not well understood by scientists. They have ruined pumps at sewage pumping stations, fouled computers and at least one homeowner’s gas meter, and caused fire alarms to malfunction. They have been spotted at NASA’s Johnson Space Center and close to Hobby Airport, though they haven’t caused any major problems there yet.

Apparently, Moscow has called Houston to make sure everything was safe at NASA.

Here’s more on these critters from the Center for Urban & Structural Entomology, Texas A&M University, Department of Entomology:

They have been known to short out many different types of electrical apparatuses. In some cases the ants have caused several thousand dollars in damage and remedial costs. These ants often cause great annoyance to residents and businesses.

Currently, little is known regarding specific biology of this ant. Texas A&M’s Center for Urban and Structural Entomology is currently investigating food source attraction (Rachel Wynalda, M.S. student), colony growth, and immature development (Jason Meyers, Ph.D. student). However, research regarding other Paratrechina species is available and may offer close approximations of this species.

Colonies are polygyne (multiple queens) with moderately sized numbers (several hundred to few thousand). However, size of the colony can be much greater, especially when considering their unicolonial (supercolony) behavior. The colonies can be found under or within almost any object or void, including stumps, soil, concrete, rocks, potted plants, etc.

Check out this news footage from a local Houston station:

This story makes me itch.

Kent Moyer, CEO of The World Protection Group, a company specializing in executive protection, uniform protective services, investigations, and threat management based upon proactive U.S. Secret Service philosophies and security best practices, was recently a featured keynote speaker at the Simposium Interacional de Seguidad Publica in Mexico City. The symposium was attended by nearly 700 people involved in national security and safety including Mexico’s congressional, judiciary, and law enforcement leaders, as well as attorneys and corporate and private security professionals operating in Mexico.

Moyer spoke by special invitation from the Mexican government based on his extensive career in private security, law enforcement, and operations in Latin America that relies on cooperation with local and federal law enforcement on both sides of the border. The symposium featured four English speakers including Moyer, a representative from the U.S. Department of Justice, and representatives from Scotland Yard and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.

Moyer’s presentation emphasized the importance and relevance of recruiting, training, and incentivizing law enforcement and private security, highlighting the challenges facing Mexico such as lack of uniform standards and limited financial resources, that also challenge United States public-private partnerships. He also highlighted the value of “working together to combat criminal activity” citing working examples in the United States, such as Building Improvement Districts (BIDS), where businesses pool resources to employ private security to proactively deter, detect, and detain criminal activity in support of local law enforcement.

Moyer has been involved in private security for nearly 17 years and is a graduate of the Wharton School of Business, at the University of Pennsylvania; the Executive Security International Executive Protection & Protective Intelligence program; the Executive Protection Institute, and the Los Angeles & Orange County Sheriffs Academies.